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Rutgers School of Nursing–Camden Announces Commencement Speaker

CAMDEN — Robert Hess, executive vice president for global programming at Gannett Education, will deliver the keynote address during commencement for the graduating Class of 2014 at the Rutgers School of Nursing–Camden.

The ceremony occurs Thursday, May 22 at 10 a.m. in the Walter K. Gordon Theater, located in the Fine Arts Complex on the Rutgers University–Camden campus.

Through Gannett Education, Gannett Healthcare Group provides educational activities for healthcare professionals across the U.S. and around the world. Hess, a Voorhees resident, is responsible for the development of continuing education to nurses and allied health professionals. Under his leadership, Gannett Education has grown into the largest continuing education provider for registered nurses.

An award-winning author, Hess is the leading researcher on shared governance, a model of nursing practice designed to achieve quality patient care and improve work environments for nurses. He is the creator of the Forum for Shared Governance, a clearing house for promoting and disseminating research about shared governance and similar organizational innovations that help empower nurses and other healthcare professionals in their workplaces.

“The Rutgers School of Nursing–Camden is pleased to announce Robert Hess as its 2014 commencement speaker,” says Rutgers–Camden Nursing Dean Joanne Robinson. “Dr. Hess is a celebrated educator, author, and consultant whose contributions to the betterment of the healthcare profession are significant and transformative. We are proud that he will address the next generation of nurses.”

Hess is the author of more than 100 articles in numerous journals and books and has advised more than 500 healthcare professionals on their first published articles. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing and has been a distinguished lecturer and writer for Sigma Theta Tau, the international nursing honor society.

Hess began his nursing career in 1975 and established Gannett Education (formerly Nursing Spectrum Division of Continuing Education) in 1993. Gannett Education publishes nurse.com, Today in PT, Today in OT, and continuingeducation.com. He leads the largest continuing education provider for nurses, dietitians, and more than 18 other health professions.

Hess says he is honored to address Rutgers University–Camden’s nursing graduates and recognizes the Rutgers School of Nursing–Camden as an influential force on nursing education in the South Jersey region and beyond.

“Many of us might have been educated across the bridge in Philly, but we live here, and this is where we’re making a difference,” Hess says. “The Rutgers School of Nursing–Camden will be the major player in fueling that difference. I don’t see the influence of this school being confined to South Jersey, but eventually reaching across the U.S.”

Hess received his bachelor’s degree from Temple University, his master’s degree from Seton Hall University, and his doctoral degree from the School of Nursing at the University of Pennsylvania.

The Rutgers School of Nursing–Camden incorporates a dynamic curriculum that integrates nursing knowledge and nursing practice skills during a four-year baccalaureate program that leads to a bachelor’s of science degree in nursing. It includes pre-licensure, RN-to-BS, accelerated degree, professional certificate, and doctor of nursing practice programs and provides a foundation for advanced nursing education in such fields as specialty clinical practice, research, nursing education, administration, and health policy development.

The Rutgers–Camden Center for the Arts has been named a grantee of The Big Read. Participating for the fifth year, the center is one of only three organizations from New Jersey to be selected for the upcoming year, and one of only 77 organizations to earn the nod nationwide.

Rutgers University–Camden is poised to become a launching pad for top-flight educators in many of New Jersey’s most underserved public schools, thanks to its participation in the cutting-edge Woodrow Wilson New Jersey Teaching Fellowship.

Chelsea Burrows, a graduating senior graphic design student at Rutgers University–Camden, has won the best-of-category for book covers/spreads at the National Student Show & Conference 10, held earlier this month in Dallas. According to the organizers, this year’s competition had more than 1,000 entrants competing for more than $15,000 in scholarships and best-of-category prizes.

The Rutgers–Camden Center for the Arts has named Jennifer Jakimiak, a graduating senior art student at Rutgers University–Camden, as the 2014 recipient of the Stedman Art Purchase Award. The Haddon Township resident earned the nod for her senior thesis exhibit, “Nothing is Ever as it Seems,” currently on display in the Stedman Gallery.